I first got into wargaming—playing with toy soldiers and making models—when I was very young (which, I’ll admit, was many years ago!). It all started with my first box of Airfix HO scale Napoleonic Scottish Highlanders, along with a box of French infantry to fight them.

I was lucky—my bedroom had a green carpet, which meant I had a ready-made battlefield right beneath my feet. I spent many hours with those first two boxes of figures, playing out my own (albeit simple) version of the Battle of Waterloo. I didn’t have any rules—I didn’t even know such things existed! I just lined them up in battle lines and rolled marbles at them.

Over the next few years, those battle lines grew. More figures joined in, along with artillery and cavalry. I even started painting them—badly!—using small tins of Humbrol enamels.

Then I discovered model kits for planes and tanks, and that was it—I was hooked. I spent all my pocket money on kits and built everything I could. There wasn’t a huge amount of choice in my local model shop, but I got as many as I could and staged bigger and better battles on that green carpet. This time, I moved on to World War II—and even started using very simple rules, including rolling dice instead of marbles!

A few things have changed over the years (though not my painting skills!). These days I play most of my games on a proper wargaming table, using established rule sets. The figures and kits have certainly improved—and become more expensive—but I still have a few Airfix kits in my 20mm WWII collection, and they still look great.

Over time, I’ve branched out into many different eras and genres. The list is long, but to name just a few: Ancients, ACW, Vietnam, WWII, Steampunk, and sci-fi.

And then there are the scales—6mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm…

And the rulebooks! As I write this, I’m looking at shelves full of them (and plenty of printed PDFs), all lined up like regiments. I can’t help but think: I’ve got far too many! I’ve read them all, but only played about half. I just love rules systems—I suppose I’m still searching for that “holy grail” of wargaming rules… which probably doesn’t exist.

These days, I often play solo. I used to be part of a wargaming club where getting a game was easy, but now I often have evenings free without an opponent. Fortunately, many games work well solo, and some are even designed specifically for it.

In recent years, I’ve also started writing my own rules. It began with a simple spaceship combat game and has grown into several more—with a few extra ideas still floating around in my head!

So there you have it—a short, condensed history of me and my hobby so far…

Through this blog, I’ll be sharing the things I enjoy about wargaming. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy them too.

Welcome to my little wargaming worlds.

Mac